


A moment's respite

by perhapsaperson



Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21729538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapsaperson/pseuds/perhapsaperson
Summary: The team is waiting around on a snow-covered planet, and John is bored. Shenanigans ensue.Day one prompt: snowball
Relationships: Ronon Dex & Teyla Emmagan & Rodney McKay & John Sheppard
Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566133
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	A moment's respite

**Author's Note:**

> written for the holiday advent challenge day 1: snowball

A gust of wind blows through the woods, sending a shiver down John’s spine. The years he’d spent in Antarctica had accustomed him to the cold, and right now the weather isn’t terrible, relatively speaking. It normally wouldn’t’ bothered him. He is, however, getting real tired of standing around in the cold, doing nothing.

“Making any progress, McKay?”

“I would be making a lot more if you didn’t keep interrupting to ask me that,” Rodney says in his usual annoyed tone, not quite looking up from where he’s fiddling with a life signs detector. Apparently there’s something on this planet that’s interfering with it. Rodney had assured them he was on top of it, though that’d been nearly half an hour ago.

John glances around the landscape again. It’s a sunny day, and the thick blanket of snow covering the ground makes it even brighter. It’s kind of beautiful, actually. Everything is covered in snow, and the trees, mostly bare with a few evergreens in the mix, look almost enchanting.

He kicks up some snow, still bored. As he does, it occurs to him that this snow, here on this beautiful day, is just about the perfect texture.

He glances over at Ronon and Teyla. They look about as bored as he is, thought Teyla is at least better at hiding it. He waves to get their attention, then scoops up a handful of snow. The snow is definitely perfect for packing.

Teyla and Ronon watch him, now looking intrigued. He puts a finger to his lips. He’s pretty sure Rodney won’t notice they’re activity either way, though, he’s pretty absorbed in whatever it is he’s doing.

John meticulously moulds the ball into a perfect sphere, then, very slowly, winds up and -

Rodney yelps as the snowball hits him right in the back of the head, dropping the device into the snow.

“Very funny,” he snaps as John, Ronon and Teyla laugh. He fishes the detector out of the snow and wipes at the now-wet screen with his sleeve. “You say you want it done fast, then - hey!” He cuts himself off as he’s hit with another snowball, this one thrown by Ronon, who grins unapologetically. 

“Oh, okay, you wanna do that, huh,” he pockets the scanner scoops up his own handful of snow, throwing it at John. John could easily dodge it, but considering he’s the one who started it, he figures it’s only fair and let’s it hit him square in the chest.

“Ha! How do you like that!” Rodney says triumphantly, apparently forgetting his earlier irritation.

John stops for a moment, glancing around at the others cautiously, making sure they’re having the same thought he is.

He lunges to the left and dives rolls behind a snowdrift, and before he can think twice it’s a full blown snowball fight. 

John lobs balls at the others as fast as he can make them, but at some point the three of them decide to gang up on him, and between Teyla’s pinpoint accuracy and Ronon’s unnecessarily large projectiles, he’s thoroughly outmatched.

He’s about to call a surrender, clearly the smarter option at this point, when Ronon rushes him and tackles him into the snowbank. John falls under the snow with an unceremonious yelp, struggling for a moment before giving up.

“Okay, okay, you win,” he pants. Ronon pulls away, and the three of them stand over him looking smug.

“See, that’s what you get for starting such a childish - childish activity,” Rodney says, trying and failing to suppress his laughter.

John sits up in the snow, breathless, as the rest of them are.

“Truce?” He offers up his hand.

“I’ll let it slid - this time,” Rodney says, narrowing his eyes in an exaggerated warning. Rodney pulls him to his feet and they stand together a moment, laughing and catching their breath.

It’s a brief respite, from all the stress and danger in Atlantis, in the Pegasus galaxy, but right now on this alien planet they all seem more relaxed than they have in weeks. For another moment like this, John would lose all the snowball fights in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> love me some team bonding


End file.
